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Gear Up For Success: Your Guide To Amazon Prime Day 2024 Preparation · Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another episode of Selling on Giants.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Will Hare, and today I'm excited to talk to you guys about Prime Day 2024.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: We are gonna dive into everything you need to know in order to be prepared and to dominate this tentpole event on Amazon for e-commerce to marketplace sellers who are looking to make some money online.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: With me today, I have Manuela Costano.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: She is a strategist with a company called Belavix.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Bellavix is a marketplace management company and they specialize in helping brands scale on marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and Target.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: And today she's here to discuss her insights and experiences with Prime Day and some things you could do in order to prepare.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is a really great, detailed conversation.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: And Manuela also shared with us a guide that she's sharing with her sellers as she helps them prepare for Prime Day 2024.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: So let's jump in.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Manuela, could you start by giving us an overview of how Amazon Prime Day has evolved since its inception and its current impact on e-commerce?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So Amazon Prime Day is a huge sales event.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It has become more popular, even more popular than Black Friday and Cyber Monday since it began in 2015.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it takes normally place in mid-July.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: It has, I believe, 18 available countries, so it's very huge.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: It includes major marketplaces like UK, US, Australia, Germany, and many others.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And um 2023 it um sold almost$13 billion.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's expected to set new records in 2024.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: So it's obviously huge.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And even though it's only for prime members, it's an excellent opportunity for sellers to boost um their businesses on the platform.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's beautiful.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: It is crazy how big that event is and how much it's grown since uh 2015.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but you know, interesting history.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of want to push it towards uh now how sellers can think about this event, this large event that's going to be driving demand uh to the platform.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, from a strategic preparation standpoint, you have in your guide on preparing for Prime Day 2024, you discussed a three-phase strategy for Amazon Prime Day, a lead up, a prime day, and then a lead out.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Could you elaborate a bit on the specific actions brands should take during these phases to maximize their success and uh define these phases for those who may not be familiar with it?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a strategy we'd use, and it's the one that is proven works, and it makes the most out of prime day.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So normally it's um divided in three stages.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: The lead up where you should be creating bots and anticipation.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: You can share uh maybe some teaser deals on your social media platforms, and you will be engaging with um your audiences of Amazon.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Then during Prime Day, you just need to make sure that all your best-selling items are sufficiently stocked and that you are offering compelling lining deals or limited time offers just to create a sense of urgency among the shoppers.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And lastly, the leadous stage where you want to keep engaging with the new customers you acquired during Prime Day just to foster long-term relationships.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's important to remember that Prime Day is not just about making immediate sales, but it also represents a good opportunity to um engage and interact with new shoppers, expand your business beyond Amazon, and you should be using this time to promote your brand across all your sales channels.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like it's Amazon's time to shine, and I I love your breakdown.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: So uh in the beginning, our lead up, where it sounds like we're building awareness, and then on Prime Day, we're participating, which sounds really important, and we're uh we're we're getting those new leads.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then the follow-up was we're re-engaging and we're trying to turn those uh customers into new customers, then new customers re-engaging them for future purpose purchases.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really uh it sounds like a really full funnel, uh, well thought out strategy.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and inside your guide, you mentioned the importance of optimizing uh product listings for visibility and sales.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: What are some key tactics sellers can use to ensure their products stand out during this hectic prime day sale?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um to optimize your listings on Amazon, you should start by crafting concise and compelling titles.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: You need to incorporate your primary keywords, your product type, your brand name.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you should stay within the 200 character limit.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: And also you need to enhance product descriptions and bullet points with your secondary keywords just to make uh the product more relevant.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, also, you can uh take advantage of the back-end keywords just to give a little bit of boost and visibility to the listing.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's super important to use high-quality images and videos, and not only that, but also take advantage of the alt text for better accessibility and search engine optimization.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's also important to price competitively your product so you can be uh leveraging tools like automate pricing or business quantity discounts.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um, last but not least, uh we uh really like to dress the store up for Prime Day.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: So you can create your own version of Prime Day store where you just highlight your um best deals and best selling products just for increased visibility during um the event.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: That is a lot of listening preparation.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: So everything from your your keywords to the images around the keywords and even your storefront.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, do you have a specific uh focus that you think has a larger impact than some of the others?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: So if you can only focus on so many things, where would you put your energy uh for a small seller, for example?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you want to make sure that you're competitive with pricing because that's gonna move the needle during the day.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: You will see um there are tons of hundreds of products trying to compete and gain the first uh spots on the search results and price and reviews and images are very important in order for you to get those uh sales and get that traffic.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful, beautiful.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: So that note obviously it's hard to sell products if you don't have products available.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd love to talk a bit about inventory management.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so inventory management obviously seems crucial uh for Prime Day success.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: What strategies do you recommend for balancing the risk of overstocking and stockouts, especially during these high demand periods?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's super important.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers need to carefully handle their inventory, and obviously that involves finding that right balance between not having too much stock, but not running out of stock.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you can do that by just planning ahead, uh, adhering to the deadlines for submitting lighting deals, for fulfillment center shipments, for prioritizing.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, like you need to prioritize your um your stock salary for best-selling items.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: You also need to track storage limits and um your inventory scores.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can also request capacity increases when necessary.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you just need to closely monitor your sales volume and supply your communication.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like quite the balancing act between not only sending the right amount of inventory over, but making sure that it's being checked in properly and that you have uh the proper amount of inventory allocated towards promotions and advertising and everything else you might be running during this event.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it kind of leads into my next question.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: So advertisements and promotions.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: So leveraging Amazon's advertising tools is a key point to your your guide that you've provided.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, how should sellers adjust their advertising strategies specifically uh for Prime Day to ensure they maximum reach and conversions uh during this high demand period?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's highly recommend to use that combination of all the um campaign types.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we normally use sponsor product ads, display ads, and sponsor brand ads.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um you should focus on your high competitive high performing keywords, sorry, and products and consider reducing bids on those less competitive keywords just to allocate your budget more efficiently.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to stay competitive, you should increase your bids to improve your ad placement.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we normally aim for a 200% increase in daily campaign spending.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's like what we normally like.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And um finally, um, and we think this is super important.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can use the leadout space just to reconnect with your new customers, you can use retargeting campaigns, display ads, and sponsor brand ads just to retarget that traffic that um increased during the event.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Beautiful.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds like there's lots of things to consider between the different advertising campaigns and methodologies on top of uh promotional strategies.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, to wrap this up, do you have any final thoughts or any other considerations that maybe I didn't touch on that a seller may find helpful as they're preparing uh for Prime Day this year?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm sure.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um the biggest recommendation is like for sellers is just to stay informed about the industry trends and they like they need to adapt their strategies accordingly.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Amazon is always changing, and we are expecting Prime Day to become even more bigger in the future.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So just stay informed, uh, invest in inventory management systems and focus a lot on data analytics for insight-driven decision making.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Sage advice, sage advice.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Manuela, thank you so much for taking the time and joining us, creating this guide for all the sellers, uh, and taking your time today to bestow some knowledge upon us.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we appreciate it.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for tuning in to Selling on Giants.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: That was a great episode with Manuela.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Her feedback on just preparing inventory advertising, uh, how to use different promotions.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: There was just so much in that, in our five to ten minute conversation.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot to unpack.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: She has been gracious enough to give us a copy of her guide.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: So if you like what you heard from Manuela, definitely download the guide.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's in the show notes.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Outside of that, if you found this episode super helpful, please follow or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcast.
• 11:27
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• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's how we're going to improve the show and the content on this show.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Also, it's how we're going to land better guests.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Outside of that, guys, thanks so much for tuning in.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Stay classy.